Australians design fold-up flip flops for women

CANBERRA (Reuters Life!) - Two Australian designers have invented a fold-up flip-flop for women that can easily fit into a small handbag to give stiletto-shod feet a break, Australian media reported on Wednesday.

The two plan to launch the portable footwear, known as a Flipster, next week, Sydney's Daily Telegraph newspaper said.

The two designers, Ben Lipschitz and Rick Munitz, spent six months designing the rubber sole and silk-strapped flip-flops, known in Australia as thongs, based on a three-page survey given to women at bars and nightclubs.

The paper said the 25-year-old designers came up with the idea after the former girlfriend of one of the men complained about the pain in her feet after a night out in high-heels.

"She was wishing out loud that she had a pair of thongs with her but she didn't want to be carrying a big pair around in her bag," Lipschitz told the paper.